Sales of the Chevrolet Spark have been dropping faster than GM can blink. The Spark is a very old vehicle, which started life as the Daewoo Matiz. The vehicle has got minor updates over time but not enough to keep it going in front of modern rivals like the Hyundai Eon and Tata Nano. General Motors will be launching a minor update of the Spark on the 25th of October, 2012. The updated vehicle is being called the ‘All New Spark’ but in all honesty, there is nothing all new about it.
General Motors has revised the styling of the new Chevrolet Spark, giving it a new front end (front bumper and grille design look similar to the new Captiva), minor revisions to the headlights and slight changes to the rear (bumper gets dual tone treatment and reflectors are now incorporated). On the inside, the Spark gets minor changes too with the biggest change being an all new instrument cluster. These changes are just to keep things fresh and in no way alter the dynamics of the small little Spark.
The Chevrolet Spark will continue to be powered by a 995cc, 4-cylinder petrol engine which produces 63 BHP of power at 5400 RPM and 90 Nm of torque at 4200 RPM. This engine is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. GM offers both petrol and LPG dual fuel option on the Spark, with the vehicle having an ARAI certified mileage of 18 km/l. This mild facelift is the last effort by GM on the Spark, before they decide to pull the plug on this outdated model. Last month GM sold only 254 units of the Spark in the Indian market, which is too low for a car of this price. The Beat is the Spark’s replacement globally but GM chose to keep the Spark alive in India.